Film & New Media Course Descriptions
Scroll down to read descriptions of the film and new media courses offered at Carthage, or click on these links for additional resources:
History of Photography: Daguerre to Digital (FAR) (CL)
ARH 2100 / 4 credits
This course introduces the history of photography from its experimental beginnings in the early 19th century to the digital practices of the present. The course focuses on the various social, cultural, scientific, and artistic uses of photography as a visual medium, as well as the broader themes and questions that have accompanied photography throughout its history.
FOUNDATIONS, SURFACE: Images + Design (FAR) (AI)
ART 1070 / 4 credits
A studio-based course designed to cultivate a student’s ability to understand and create images. Students will work fluidly across two-dimensional and three-dimensional processes and across material-based and digital-based projects. Projects will involve fundamental principles of design, color, and visual organization through drawing, printmaking, painting, fiber art, book arts, 3D media, technology, and lens-based media. Course content will explore the context of images in the larger culture and the potential of art and design to make inquiries into social, cultural, philosophical, scientific, political, or technological topics. Students will take projects through the creative design process, from ideation to construction, presentation, and critique.
Prerequisite: None
Fall/Spring
FOUNDATIONS, TIME: Movement + Digital (FAR) (AI)
ART 1072 / 4 credits
This course is a study of design fundamentals in time-based media, with emphasis on content. Students will explore the interactions of time through the lens and the tactile world, using video, sound, animation, performance, installation, and/or new media. Projects will be interdisciplinary in nature, with the combining of time-based media, for example performance art and video, installation art and sound. Through individual production, group projects, and critical discussion, students will examine the relationships between image, sound, linear and nonlinear narrative, time, and space.
Prerequisite: None
Fall/Spring
Color Photography (FAR) (AI)
ART 2130 / 4 credits
Students will explore the conceptual, aesthetic, historical, and technical aspects of color photography as an art medium. Students will use DSLR cameras and the contemporary process of digital photography to produce work that is both visually engaging and conceptually challenging. The course will culminate in a portfolio of works that thoroughly explores an area of interest with technical proficiency. Students are required to have their own cameras.
Prerequisite: None
Introduction to Sculpture (FAR) (AI)
ART 2400 / 4 credits
This studio course explores traditional and contemporary sculpture materials and processes. Emphasis is on both additive and subtractive methods of working. Goals include acquiring technical skills, understanding the physical and expressive possibilities of diverse materials, and learning safe, appropriate use of tools. Students can anticipate working with wood, clay, stone, metal, and other materials.
Prerequisite: None
Fall/Spring
4D (FAR) (AI)
ART 2750 / 4 credits
Time, space, and technology are fundamental in contemporary art practice. This course will be an introduction to the process of making art by utilizing technology and transaction among people, objects, locations, and situations. Through studio assignments, screenings, readings, lectures, discussion, and/or workshops, students will be introduced to contemporary time-based art practices. Depending on the specific topic offered, this will include video, sound art, performance art, installation, light, experimental film, social practice, web-based, and/or new media.
Prerequisite: None
Advanced 4D
ART 3700 / 4 credits
Advanced studio work in time-based media, emphasizing individual production in one or more of these areas: video, sound art, performance art, installation, light, experimental film, social practice, web-based, and/or new media. Students will refine their aesthetic, conceptual and technical skills through individual projects and continued study of the expanding critical role time-based media has in contemporary art and society. This course may be repeated up to three times.
Prerequisites: ART 2750
Basic Digital Photography (FAR) (AI)
CDM 2500 / 4 credits
An introduction to photography in which students practice the art of photography, introducing them to the technical and stylistic aspects of digital photo making. Students are required to supply their own digital camera, which has manual capabilities such as aperture and shutter speed priority mode. Using Photoshop software, students will also work with their own photos in the digital realm, applying what they learn to select, manipulate, display, and print work.
Prerequisite: None
New Media Theory and Aesthetics (FAR) (CL) (IDP)
CDM 2600 (FAR) / 4 credits
Students will learn and apply a variety of critical methods for understanding and evaluating the current landscape of new media. The course will investigate mobile technology, social networks, streaming, the internet and its cultures, as well as various other forms of emerging media (including VR, AR, and interactive technologies). The course is designed to provide students with a knowledge base for future work in emerging arts and sciences, digital production, screen arts and cultures, and other communication-related fields.
Prerequisite: None
Film Analysis (FAR) (CL)
CDM 2620 / 4 credits
This course will provide an introduction to the study of film. Students will learn about the history and economics of the film industry, engage in textual analysis of film, and/or consider film’s cultural impact.
Prerequisite: None
Studies in Media
CDM 2630 / 4 credits
In this variable content course, students develop a historically informed understanding of a specific audio/visual mode contextualized through a given culture, subculture, movement, geography, and/or society in the global context (outside normative North American society).
Film and New Media Production (FAR) (AI) (IDP)
CDM 2700 / 4 credits
This course engages students in the process of developing, writing, producing, shooting, and editing content for audio, video, virtual reality, and new media. Students study the process of media production by critical analysis of film texts and by active participation in the production process.
Prerequisite: None
Studies in Media Production
CDM 2730 / 4 credits
In this variable content course, students develop introductory skill sets that are applicable to a specific audio/visual mode of production.
Exploring the Documentary Form (FAR) (CL) (ITL)
CDM 2800 / 4 credits
Film is an important and intrinsic medium for understanding our culture and its values. More specifically, nonfiction film has played a critical role in educating society on important issues and histories, often shaping public policy and opinion through production processes. Students will learn about the components of documentary and its production, while exploring the form’s history and various modes of representation that have been cultivated and conceptualized over the past century.
Prerequisite: None
Words and Images in Motion (AI)
CDM 3200 / 4 credits
This course addresses the creation of motion graphics for graphic design students. Students will be introduced to strategies for communicating with kinetic visual elements that focus on form, speed, rhythm, orientation, color, texture, and quality of motion. The course will include lectures and screenings of the history, techniques, and applications of motion graphics, as well as demonstrations using modern software such as Adobe Photoshop and After Effects. Additional topics include basic animation principles, screen design and composition, timing, storyboarding, sound and music development and synchronization, as well as project management and organization. Students will learn to make informed design decisions and will draw on the basic principles of visual communication, graphic design, and motion literacy in the creation of time-based work that is expressive, dynamic, and inventive.
Prerequisite: CDM 2000
Screenwriting
CDM 3320 / 4 credits
Screenwriting introduces students to writing for film, television, the web, and other mass media outlets. Students will identify and develop a script for short film, long form, documentary, broadcast news, commercials, the web, and the other types and formats of screenwriting. Students will also apply the concepts of copyright, fair use, licensing, and creative commons.
Prerequisite: None
Art, Activism, and Social Change
CDM 3940 / 4 credits
In this course, students will develop an informed understanding of how aesthetics, performative art, and audiovisual activism can foster communal change.
Advanced Film and New Media Production (AI)
CDM 3950 / 4 credits
This course draws on principles and skills developed in CDM 2700. Students will design, produce, and edit several types of advanced video, audio, virtual reality, and/or new media projects, culminating in a single major work.
Prerequisite: CDM 2700 or consent of instructor
Introduction to Computing (QR)
CSC 1100 / 4 credits
An introduction to the art and science of computer programming for the student without previous programming experience. Topics covered include the historical development of computing, the basic operating principles of computers, and an introduction to problem-solving using one or more high-level computing languages, such as Python. Intended for nonmajors/nonminors. Does not count toward major or minor in CSC.
Fall/Spring
Principles of Computer Science I
CSC 1810 / 4 credits
A study of the fundamentals of writing computer programs and problem-solving, using structured and object-oriented techniques. Intended for future majors and minors in computer science and minors in game development. Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in this call in the fall term of their first year.
Fall/Spring